The following is the festive greeting used on these two days:
"A good Yom-Tov! May you be inscribed and sealed for a good
year in the study of Chassidus and in the spiritual lifestyle
of Chassidus." [598]

The 19th of Kislev is the yahrzeit of our saintly master,
R. DovBer, the Maggid of Mezritch, who [as successor to the
Baal Shem Tov] was the mentor of the second generation of the
chassidic movement - from 5521 (1761) until his passing on
the third day of the week of Parshas Vayeishev, Yud-Tes
Kislev, 5533 (1772). His resting place is in Anipoli. [599]

R. Shneur Zalman [of Liadi, author of the Tanya], known
as the Alter Rebbe, founder and first leader of the Chabad
chassidic movement from 5533 (1772) until [his passing on
the 24th of Teves in] 5573 (1812), was released from his
first imprisonment on the 19th of Kislev, late in the
afternoon of the third day of the week of Parshas Vayeishev,
5559 (1798). [600]

From a letter of the Alter Rebbe:

"This indeed must be made known, that on the day which G-d
made for us - on the 19th of Kislev; on the third day of
the week (concerning which the Torah twice writes `It is
good') [601]; on the yahrzeit of our holy master [the
Maggid of Mezritch], whose soul reposes in Eden; - on
that day, while I was reading the verse in the Book of
Tehillim that begins, `He has redeemed my soul in peace,'
[602] and before I began the following verse, I went
forth in peace through the G-d of Peace." [603]

The following statement, [handed down by the oral tradition
of elder chassidim of that time,] was made by the Alter Rebbe
in connection with Yud-Tes Kislev: [604]

(First Version:)

"This day will be fixed as an everlasting festival for
Israel, a day on which the great Name of G-d will be
exalted and hallowed. The hearts of thousands of Jews
will be aroused in repentance and the service of the
heart (i.e., prayer), for this episode is engraved in
the heart of the Israel of the World Above, and
inscribed in the heart of Israel in This World."

(Second Version:)

"This day will be fixed as an everlasting festival for
Israel, a day on which the great Name of G-d will be
exalted and hallowed. The hearts of thousands of Jews
will be aroused in repentance and the service of the
heart (i.e., prayer), for when this episode will be
engraved in the heart of Yisrael Sava, [605] it will
be inscribed in the heart of Israel in This World."

"Yud-Tes Kislev,...the festival on which `He redeemed
our soul in peace,' and the light and vitality of our
souls were given to us, is the New Year for Chassidus
- which our saintly forebears, [the Rebbeim of their
respective generations,] have bequeathed to us -
i.e., the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov. [607]

"[We read in the Machzor:] `This is the day which
is the beginning of Your works.' [608]

"[G-d's] true and ultimate motive for creating man
upon earth is [His desire] that man cause the light
of the innermost dimension of our holy Torah to be
revealed.

"On this day, that light is forthcoming in a
general way for the entire year. On this day,
therefore, it is our duty to awaken our hearts to
an inward and elemental desire and yearning,
within the very core of our hearts, that G-d
illuminate our souls with the light of the
innermost dimension of His Torah."

"One ought to prepare oneself for the approach of the
Rosh HaShanah of Chassidus in ways that recall the days
of Selichos and the month of Elul." [609]

"For a chassid, Yud-Tes Kislev is the day of his
[spiritual] circumcision." [595]

One does not say Tachanun on the 19th or 20th of Kislev, nor
at the Minchah that precedes the 19th of Kislev.

"It is customary for chassidim to immerse in a mikveh before
Shacharis on the 19th of Kislev, in keeping with the
practice handed down by the earliest chassidim in the name
of the Baal Shem Tov - that with the approach of Shabbos
and Yom-Tov, and on Shabbos and Yom-Tov mornings, one
immerses in a mikveh.

"The elder chassidim of Chabad have received an oral
tradition handed down by the earliest chassidim of the
Alter Rebbe, that the celebration of Yud-Tes Kislev as a
Yom-Tov is crucial to the manifestation of the joy of this
day, which the Alter Rebbe drew down to this world by means
of his own self-sacrifice for the sake of the customs of
Chabad chassidim." [610]

"This is a day for farbrengen and for resolving to set aside
fixed times for the study of Torah in public, both its
revealed planes (nigleh) and its hidden dimensions
(Chassidus). It is a day for the strengthening of the
spiritual lifestyle of chassidim in a spirit of
brotherliness." [611]

The Rebbe Rashab used to make an appeal for charitable
purposes during the farbrengen of Yud-Tes Kislev. [612]

It is customary to distribute the tractates of the Talmud
which various individuals undertake to study in the course
of the coming year, in accordance with the letter of the
Alter Rebbe, beginning Hocheiach Tochiach, that closes
Kuntreis Acharon at the end of Tanya. (The tractates are
commonly apportioned on Yud-Tes Kislev.) [613]

The following is the relevant passage:

"Complete the study of the entire Talmud every year and
in every community, the tractates being apportioned by
lot or by consent. In a city where there are numerous
synagogues, each congregation should complete the
Talmud. And if a congregation is too small to implement
this, they should join forces with men of a larger one.
This program shall be neither violated nor varied."

Those who belong to a community which, for whatever
reason, is `too small' to cope with the entire Talmud,
customarily participate in the distribution of
tractates that is arranged by the Machne Israel
organization in the beis midrash of the Rebbe Shlita.

On Yud-Tes Kislev one re-commences the annual cycle of
daily readings in Tanya, as divided by the Rebbe
Rayatz. [614]

In the letter which he appended to his study guide he
referred to "the readings in Likkutei Amarim - Tanya as
apportioned for each day of the year, from the Rosh
HaShanah of Chassidus, Yud-Tes Kislev, until next year's
Yud-Tes Kislev. (May it greet us and all our Jewish
brethren with goodness and with blessing, both materially
and spiritually.) " [615]

Extract from a letter of the Rebbe Shlita:

"The practice has become widespread [616] to hold the main
farbrengen of Yud-Tes Kislev on the eve of the 20th,
because the Alter Rebbe was released from prison on the
19th at Minchah time, and for the following three hours he
found himself in the home of an antagonist to Chassidism,
where he suffered spiritual anguish. [617]

"In many places, nevertheless, people gather for a
farbrengen on the eve of the 19th as well - and may
chassidic blessings light upon them.

"In general, the farbrengens of any city are arranged in
either of two ways:

they can be spread out in many locations, so
that people who would not travel far afield
should also participate; or

all those interested can meet at one location,
for `In a multitude of people is the King's
glory.' [618] Such a farbrengen should be steered
by the venerable elders and the men of stature
within the community.

"Abundant quantity or superior quality? [619] Their
relative merits are the subject of a classic debate. [620]
For comparable cases see: Shabbos 127a ; Megillah 3a (in
Tosafos; Avos 3:15, and see Peirush HaMishnayos there);
Iggeres HaKodesh, Epistle 21; and other sources. These
are obviously not exact parallels to our case, but space
does not permit further elaboration.

"At any rate, I would recommend that on the first night,
the eve of the 19th, farbrengens should be held in various
places (where the following night's gathering should be
announced), and the next evening all concerned should
assemble in one place.

"It goes without saying that what matters ultimately is
that people should rouse themselves and `resolve to set
aside fixed times for the study of Torah in public, both
its revealed planes (nigleh) and its hidden dimensions
(Chassidus), and strengthen the spiritual lifestyle of
chassidim in a brotherly spirit.'" [621]

Footnotes:

(Back to text) [See p. 42 in the printed version on The Chitas Study
Cycles.]

(Back to text) A facsimile of the letter of the Rebbe Rashab that
discusses Yud-Tes Kislev as the Rosh HaShanah of
Chassidus is reproduced in Kuntreis U'Maayan (Heb.
edition only), p. 17 [and translated below]; the
background to its first appearance is described in an
extract from the Diary of the Rebbe Rayatz, op. cit.,
pp. 15-18; the above-quoted festive greeting appears in
HaYom Yom (p. 113), which also reproduces the text of the
letter (p. 4).

(Back to text) Reproduced at the beginning of Megillas Yud-Tes Kislev.
[For the historical background to this statement see
Likkutei Dibburim (and likewise in English translation),
Vol. I, ch. 2a, sec. 9, and footnotes there.]

(Back to text) A gloss in Megillas Yud-Tes Kislev notes that the Alter
Rebbe was accustomed to using the word Sava (lit., an
elder, or sage) to describe baalei mochin and baalei
de'ah, in the spirit of the expression [paraphrasing the
Zohar], [`Israel of the World Above' and Yisrael Sava.

(Back to text) From the year 5663 (1902) onwards, because of lack of
time on Yud-Tes Kislev, the distribution of the tractates
[in the original: chalukas HaShas] in Lubavitch was
carried out on the 24th of Teves, the yahrzeit of the
Alter Rebbe.
In 5713 (1952), fifty years later, the Rebbe Shlita
restored the custom in various places to its original
date, Yud-Tes Kislev.

(Back to text) HaYom Yom, p. 4. [See also p. 42 in the above section
on The Chitas Study Cycles.]

(Back to text) Foreword to the daily study guide entitled Moreh Shiur
[which appears as the first appendix to all current
editions of the Tanya, as published by Otzar
HaChassidim]. [See also its English translation (Kehot,
London, 5735).]

(Back to text) See the sichos of Yud-Tes Kislev, 5692 and 5693. (Note
of the Rebbe Shlita.)

(Back to text) This is also related to the difference between the two
phrases, (`How manifold are Your works!' - Tehillim
104:24) and (`How great are Your works!' - ibid., 92:6);
this is discussed in the second maamar beginning Vaeira
in Torah Or, p. 56b. Another example of such contrasts:
(`intense lights') vs. (`capacious vessels'); this is
discussed in the maamar beginning Matzah Zu, 5667. (Note
of the Rebbe Shlita.)